We just got “shelled” by a dozen ballistic missiles fired from Iran to Iraq. These are the type of things that could be stopped by Patriot surface-to-air (SAM) missiles. Apparently we were given a heads up that the missiles were coming.
Not sure if we have any Patriot missile batteries deployed in Iraq. During the build up in May and June, we did deploy at least one Patriot battery to the Gulf. I assume they are still there defending facilities in the Gulf States. Do we have any Patriot missile batteries in Iraq?
And:
One notes that the recent Iranian attack on the Saudi oil facilities on 14 September 2019 was not intercepted even though Saudi Arabia has six battalions of Patriot missiles and we also have at least one battery in the Gulf.
So did we have Patriots deployed in Iraq? If we did have them available, then did we decide not to use them?
P.S. (added at 1:40 9 Jan 2020): 3 Hours from Alert to Attacks
- We had a three hour alert
- There were no Patriot batteries deployed to protect the Ain Al-Asad base
- 16 missiles were fired at Ain Al-Asad base.